NEWS
NEWS
Updates on technologies, trends, and tools
Mate 1.1 Arrives
The Mate desktop team has announced the arrival of the Mate 1.1 desktop. Mate, which is largely supported by the Mint project, has gained a significant share of the Linux desktop market since it first appeared in 2011. Mate is a fork of the Gnome 2 desktop and was launched when the Gnome team abandoned Gnome 2 development to focus on Gnome 3. The move was controversial at the time, with many users expressing a preference for Gnome 2, but the Gnome team chose not to divide their efforts, which led to an opening for a new project that would provide a continuation of the Gnome 2 code.
The big news for the latest version 1.1 is that Mate now supports both the GTK2 and GTK3 development environments, so users can have the best of both Gnome 2 and Gnome 3. (The developers emphasize that GTK3 support is still experimental.)
Mate originally rocketed to public attention through its association with the popular Mint project, but since then, several other leading Linux distros have included Mate in their package repositories. Mate 1.1 has been in development for 15 months. For more information on the new release, see the announcement at the Mate project website.
RIP SSLv3
The venerable "secure" network protocol Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) v3 has met its end. SSL has co-existed on the Internet alongside its presumed successor TLS for many years, even though experts have long warned of its shortcomings. A recent rash of high-profile incidents, however, including the famous POODLE exploit, have finally caused the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to take action. Request for Comment (RFC) 7568 "Deprecating Secure Sockets Layer Version 3.0" officially states the requirement that SSLv3 should not be supported.
The RFC is unusually blunt, with its all-cap stipulation that "SSLv3 MUST NOT be used." Although most systems today support the safer TLS, many provide fallback support for SSLv3 if an SSL connection is requested. Attackers have perfected the technique of requesting an SSL connection then use one of the many exploits associated with SSL. RFC 7568 states that "Any party receiving a Hello message with the version set to {3,00} MUST respond with a 'protocol_version' alert message and close the connection."
Many OS and application vendors have already turned off support for SSLv3 through patches and security updates.
NoScript Flaw
Security researchers have discovered a major flaw with Mozilla's popular NoScript security add-on. NoScript is supposed to create an environment where JavaScript, Java, and other executable content can only run in scripts that come from a trusted domain.
According to Detectify researcher Linus Särud, NoScript whitelists the entire googleapis.com domain and any subdomain, which means an attacker could create a nefarious script that uses Google services APIs to bypass NoScript. The discovery follows an earlier project by Matthew Bryant, who successfully launched an attack that bypassed whitelist protections.
It isn't clear whether attackers are already using this technique. The discovery challenges the prestige of the Mozilla NoScript plugin, which bills itself as "The best security you can get in a web browser!" According to a report in The Register, the NoScript team immediately responded by adapting the tool to whitelist only Google's hosted libraries at ajax.googleapis.com, which should reduce the threat, although it might require more intervention from the user to get any necessary legitimate sites whitelisted.
Users are encouraged to install updates. Bryant adds, "Please purge your whitelist. Remove everything you don't trust."
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
KaOS Linux 2024.05 Adds Bcachfs Support and More
With updates all around, KaOS Linux now includes support for the bcachefs file system.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils New Iteration of the Stellaris Laptop Line
The Stellaris Slim 15 is the 6th generation and includes either an AMD or Intel CPU
-
KDE Releases Plasma 6.0.5
The latest release of the Plasma desktop has arrived with several improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Gnome OS Adopting systemd-sysupdate
Gnome OS is about to undergo a major under-the-hood change that promises enhanced security.
-
Endless OS 6 Now Available
After more than a year since the last update, the latest release of Endless OS is now available for general usage.
-
Fedora Asahi 40 Remix Available for Macs with Apple Silicon
If you've been anticipating KDE's Plasma 6 for your Apple Silicon-powered Mac, then you're in luck.
-
Red Hat Adds New Deployment Option for Enterprise Linux Platforms
Red Hat has re-imagined enterprise Linux for an AI future with Image Mode.
-
OSJH and LPI Release 2024 Open Source Pros Job Survey Results
See what open source professionals look for in a new role.
-
Proton 9.0-1 Released to Improve Gaming with Steam
The latest release of Proton 9 adds several improvements and fixes an issue that has been problematic for Linux users.
-
So Long Neofetch and Thanks for the Info
Today is a day that every Linux user who enjoys bragging about their system(s) will mourn, as Neofetch has come to an end.